On last night's episode of “Bering Sea Gold” titled "Dead Men Gather No Gold," the dredgers have returned to dive and dredge for the gold on the bottom of the Bering Sea.
As this episode opens, The "Christine Rose" is back, so is the "Wild Ranger," but new dredges; "The Edge," replacing "The Clark" and "Anchor Management" complete the four dredgers.
Last episode John tried to swim in the cold Bering Sea because he missed the deadline to leave to go dredging on "The Edge." Suffering from hypothermia from the 36 degree water, he almost died. They manage to revive him. He apologizes to Zeke and Emily and regrets his bad decision.
Now a summer storm had hit Nome, and the dredging has been called off. Vernon is looking for more experienced dredgers who can do better than Steve Reidel, who is not aggressive enough on the hose for Vern's liking. Dave Thompson came to meet with Vernon to apply for the job. He has been a diver for over 20 years with tons of experience. Vern tells him to be there tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.
Although the storm has subsided, the swells in the harbor are still too rough to dredge. Scott Meisterheim ignores the swells and heads out. The rig is bouncing and heaving quite a bit and as the rest of the fleet watches, he regretfully heads back to shore. All Scott wants to do is beat out Vern and takes no precautions for the lives of his crew.
After just a day and a half spent recuperating from hypothermia, John is back on "The Edge." His feet are still a bit numb and Zeke is now worried about John's decision making abilities. John is determined to dredge.
Vern is ready to go with his crew and new addition, Dave, who wants to see the weight belts. Vern does not have a weight belt on board. Dave leaves the boat and goes down the dock and has a huge meltdown and swears that these people are idiots. Dave is certainly wound tight.
Steve Pomrenke just found out that Shawn got a centrifuge and never paid for it. Now Steve is very upset and goes to pay the debt. On the "Christine Rose," Cody and Doug have found gold on the bottom of the sluice box. This could just be the answer to Steve's prayers. Suddenly, something happens with the sluice; it is a bearing that is shot and now their dredging is shut down. To cut off the bearing, Cody has to carefully take it off of the shaft. If they damage the shaft, the entire business will be shut down. Cody is a master and does a great job. The new bearing slips on without a problem, and they are back in business.
On "The Edge," John has decided to dive. Zeke is worried that John is diving without considering his health. As John begins his dive, the air compressor is out of gas, and John is already below. Emily tells John to come to the surface. Once the repair is made, John goes back down. As Emily is communicating with him, John tells her that he saw gold below.
On the "Wild Ranger," they are ready to go and Dave has calmed down. Dave tests the weight belt, and it is good for him and he asks Vern for the first dive. Steve asks Dave if he has gloves, and Dave gets riled up again. Finally, Dave goes below and then tells them he does not have enough air. Vern tells him that he has sixty, but Dave surfaces again. Dave questions the PSI (pounds per square inch) of air, and Steve confirms that it is sixty psi. Dave tells him that the equipment will not work past fifty psi. He then dives off the rig and heads to shore.
On the "Anchor Management," the stunt Scott Meisterheim pulled yesterday flooded out the two carburetors of the dredge. Now they are in port until they can get it seaworthy.
When Zeke and Emily come to shore, they are greeted by unhappy people who accuse them of claim jumping. Zeke refused to give them his mats, that contain whatever gold he has mined so far. The people are a husband and wife who have had run-ins with miners before. Now Zeke is done until he gets this straightened out with the authorities.
Meanwhile, Shawn Pomrenke found out that the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has shut down the "Christine Rose" because their claim is too close to the mouth of the Nome River. This is on a migration route for salmon in the Bering Sea. Now six people will be without paychecks if they cannot dig.
So far, the "Christine Rose" has a total of 61.05 ounces of gold worth $100,903.44 and "The Edge" has mined 5.1 ounces worth $8,428.28. The other two dredges have yet to find any gold. The Bering Sea refuses to give up her "Bering Sea Gold" without a fight, and now it is more than just the Bering Sea that these two dredges will be fighting.
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